While perhaps a little late to the party, the Cubs made their midseason reshuffle of their personnel over the weekend.
Myrtle Beach is back after scuffling for a while, thanks to the red-hot hitting of Jeimer Candelario. Another player who is swinging it well is Jacob Hannemann, who helped ignite the Tennessee offense.
Pitching was also in the spotlight as South Bend’s Michael Wagner, Iowa’s Donn Roach, and Dylan Cease of the AZL Cubs all had outstanding efforts.
So take a look at Down … [Read more...]

The Cubs’ affiliates have a new first place team as the Eugene Emeralds took the top spot thanks to the hot hitting of Donnie Dewees and Matt Rose. South Bend remained in first place due to excellent pitching from Tommy Thorpe and Corbin Hoffner.
A 4-for-4 performance by Jeimer Candelario got Myrtle Beach their first win of the second half, while Tennessee and Iowa squandered very good outings from Ryan Williams and Jeffry Antigua.
With other fine efforts from Dylan Cease, Mark Malave, and … [Read more...]

Streaks were the big story to start the week as South Bend came off of All-Star break and extended their winning streak to five games thanks to Gleyber Torres. Winning four games in a row brought Eugene’s record even as Eloy Jimenez and Ian Happ came up big.
Both Tennessee and Iowa had modest two game streaks with strong performances from Albert Almora Jr. and Kyle Schwarber.
On the downside, Myrtle Beach has yet to win a game in the second half of the season despite an excellent outing by … [Read more...]

As the first half of the minor league season closed, all teams are now in play as both the Northwest League and the Arizona Rookie League opened this weekend. The first half concluded with Myrtle Beach the Carolina League South Division Champions on the strength of pitchers Josh Conway and Daury Torrez.
First round draft pick Ian Happ has made a splash for Eugene by cracking two home runs in the first three games he has played in.
And while Tennessee fell out of playoff contention, a buzz … [Read more...]

Big offensive performances marked the beginning of the week as Arismendy Alcantara had a two home run game for Iowa, while rookie Jose Rojas also hit two in the same game in Venezuela.
In Myrtle Beach, Jacob Rogers came close to a cycle as they closed in on a playoff spot. And Duane Underwood Jr. dominated on the mound again.
Rafael Mejia belted a home run for the first place DSL Cubs, and pitcher Ryan Williams dazzled batters for Tennessee to keep their slim playoff hopes … [Read more...]

The rain, rain won’t go away as the Cubs’ affiliates lost half of their scheduled games to the weather. What we were left with was only one shaky win by Myrtle Beach with a great pitching effort by Duane Underwood.
The story for the end of the week were the Caribbean leagues as the DSL Cubs moved their record to 8-3 while the VSL Cubs are 3.5 games out of first place with two wins over the league leaders.
Also with a look at the Carolina League All-Stars Duane Underwood, Jonathan Martinez, … [Read more...]

Success is building throughout the minor league system as first place Myrtle Beach was able to stop a losing streak on National Television with the help of Mark Zagunis.
Both Iowa and Tennessee are in second place and hot on the heels of the front runners as Taylor Teagarden had a breakout game and Frank Batista pitched a gem in a losing effort.
South Bend remains buried in the first half standings, but are pointing to being competitive in the second half thanks to strong pitching from … [Read more...]

It has become a week for big hitter as home runs seem to be flying out at will. South Bend welcomed Kevin Encarnacion back as he hit a towering blast. Tennessee got an unexpected power surge from Wes Darvill. And the Iowa Cubs are simply feasting as Christian Villanueva, Matt Szczur, Arismendy Alcantara, and Javier Baez all went deep.
The downside was the Myrtle Beach went into a losing streak. But don’t worry as it is only two games while Jeimer Candelario remains red hot.
Along with … [Read more...]

The Cubs’ minor league system ended the month of May with a mixed bag as South Bend saw the blossoming of Yasiel Balaguert. Myrtle Beach have their own emerging stars in Jeimer Candelario and Chesny Young, while Willson Contreras is stepping into the spotlight in Tennessee. And a few of old hands, namely Arismendy Alcantara, Matt Szczur and Javier Baez, led the way for Iowa.
The Cubs also welcomed another affiliate, as the Dominican Summer League began play on Saturday.
To see more on who … [Read more...]

It was an abbreviated schedule to start the final week of May as two teams had Tuesday off while another was postponed.
South Bend just can’t seem to find the winning combination despite the hot hitting of Gleyber Torres and Cael Brockmeyer. Myrtle Beach keeps chugging along as Jen-Ho Tseng demonstrated the form that had him named Minor League Pitcher of the Year last season.
Felix Pena has moved to third in the Southern League in strikeouts as he helped Tennessee to victory. And Iowa had … [Read more...]